In an effort to reign in the spending on projects, many organizations have implemented formal project management practices. This makes sense from the perspective of ensuring that the right things are being done at the right time, in a controlled and fiscally responsible way. What doesn’t make sense is the extreme that some of these organizations go to in order to control project costs.
Project management should be a resource to the project. It should help the project stay on track and improve communication with stakeholders.
Certainly there is a place for project management in tracking costs, completeness, and making sure that the people working on the project know what tasks are next on the priority list, however, if technology teams are criticized for being too close to the technology and not business savvy enough, project managers can be criticized for being too close to the project management tools and methodologies that they use.
The value is not in the reporting. The value is in enabling decisions and navigating the roadblocks along the way so that the project team can reach the customers goals efficiently and effectively.
In my opinion, too much time is spent measuring the "burn rate" rather than removing the costly obstacles.
© Wayne McKinnon 2009. All rights reserved.
